Missing Homewood woman found safe in hotel: Elizabeth Koury is where she wants to be, police said

HOMEWOOD, Alabama – A young Homewood woman missing since Aug. 1 was found safe today at a hotel in the Huntsville area.

Elizabeth Koury, 20, was last seen by her family Friday when she left home to supposedly go to class at UAB. Instead, Homewood police said today, she paid $186 to take a cab to the Huntsville International Airport where she was last seen getting into a pickup truck with a friend.

Investigators ran a check of Koury's credit cards again today and found she had checked into a hotel in the Madison area, said Homewood police Sgt. Andrew Didcoct. Madison County sheriff's deputies tracked her down there and knocked on the door.

Koury answered the door and told lawmen she was where she wanted to be, and wasn't going home. "What we have is a 20-year-old runaway,'' Didcoct said. "She is safe and sound and living in a hotel for now."

Koury left her car on campus before taking the cab to Huntsville. Authorities said today her father had warned her not to take the car anywhere besides school, and apparently she obeyed that directive.